'Stand back and reflect and listen': Taoiseach reacts to O’Leary’s rape comments

The Taoiseach said he is “disappointed” by rape comments made by Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary, (pictured) and said that men in general need to “cop on” in terms of their language.

The Taoiseach said he is “disappointed” by rape comments made by Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary, and said that men in general need to “cop on” in terms of their language.

However, Micheál Martin refused to say whether Mr O’Leary should apologise for the remarks, despite being accused of trivialising rape by victims’ groups.

The billionaire was heavily criticised by politicians in both Ireland and the UK after he said this week it was “absolutely” appropriate to compare competitor airlines to “rapists”.

He was urged to offer a “swift apology” by the chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC), Rachel Morrogh, who said he had trivialised rape.

When asked about the comments, Mr Martin said he was “disappointed” by them, and called on Mr O’Leary to listen to the voices of women.

“I think men in general just need to cop on in terms of how we use language. Rape is the most horrific crime,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.

“It violates a person and has a lifelong impact on the person. Whereas, in the past, language like that was used interchangeably, I understand that, and I’m not trying to be overly preachy or anything like that.

“But I think Michael O’Leary should just stand back and reflect and listen to the voice of women on this occasion, this is a genuine view.

“It’s not political correctness or anything like that. It’s the right approach not to be using that language in the way he did, because I don’t think it was intentional on his part, but it conveys a sense that rape is like anything else that happens in life, it’s not.

“It’s an awful, awful violation of a person, which leaves a terrible trauma, and that’s the point. And we all have to…. people can’t speak out of sync, you know, and so on like that.

“And I would just say, stand back and reflect and listen, and maybe respond more appropriately.” 

Asked if he should apologise, Mr Martin said: “I would leave it to him to deal with it in the best way possible.” 

Mr O’Leary made the comment ahead of his airline’s annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday.

He claimed rising air travel prices at other airlines would see passengers switch to Ryanair.

He told reporters at the company’s headquarters: “You might find some people will choose not to fly with Ryanair – but you know they’ll be overrun with the people abandoning Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, BA, and others desperate to get to Ryanair’s low fares because they can’t afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe.” 

He later repeated the “high-fare rapists” comments.

Asked by the Press Association whether this was appropriate language, Mr O’Leary told reporters: “Absolutely.” 

He later said rape was a “terrible crime” but rejected the assertion he was trivialising rape.